Funding Threatens VA Care

Funding Threatens VA Care

In
a contentious hearing, lawmakers accused VA Secretary Bob McDonald of
covering up information threatening the health care of millions of
veterans.

McDonald said the department faces a $3 billion budget
shortfall and, without congressional action, will have to deny access
to health care to veterans.

“We'll have no option at the end of
July but to defer … authorizations until October, provide staff furlough
notices, notify vendors we cannot pay them as we begin an orderly
shutdown of hospitals and clinics all across the country,” said
McDonald.

According to McDonald, the VA is struggling to meet
the increased demand for health care provided under the Choice Act. The
Choice Act allows some veterans to receive health care at non-VA
facilities, paid for by the VA.

Passing of the Choice Act has
driven up costs for delivering care outside the VA. The Choice Act,
along with other community care programs, all have different authorities
and budget lines. Currently, VA lacks the authority to move dollars
between the programs.

That means that even though Congress has
increased overall funding for VA health care, the money has only gone to
specific accounts.

“You already appropriated funds to meet
these needs, but you haven't given me the flexibility and authority to
use them,” said McDonald.

A victim of its own success, VA has
been able to double its capacity in staffing, space, productivity, and
delivering care over the past year. This hard work resulted in 7 million
more appointments for veterans, 4.5 million of them from outside
providers. But the VA estimates that for every one percent increase in
veterans accessing health care, it spends $1.5 billion on health care
delivery.

The revelation did not sit well with members of Congress.

House
Veterans Affairs Committee Chairman Jeff Miller (R-Fla.) chided
McDonald for his “slow, painstaking revelation of the crisis” and the
department's financial woes, problems the VA first became aware of in
April but failed to inform Congress of until early June.

The fix?

The
short-term solution is for Congress to give VA the budget flexibility
to address the shortfalls to ensure continued care for veterans.

The
long-term solution to VA's budget problems is to consolidate and
streamline all of the VA community care programs. Congress and the VA
are working to simplify management of health care services.

MOAA
joined with a number of other veterans' organizations in writing asking
committee leaders to resolve the VA's budget crisis.